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The sky is bright and beautiful pink and orange colors swirl together above the beach’s shoreline as an older couple takes a stroll, hands locked together, soaking in the comfort of each other’s presence. Meanwhile, the football-loving jock gazes into the crowd of hundreds of different faces before finally spotting the one person he’d been waiting to see all night, the girl he can’t help but smile at in hopes she smiles back. At the same time somewhere else, a teenage student lies awake in her room wondering if the male-dominated society will ever be kinder to young girls like her. Although none of these instances ever occurred within the real world, they’ve become real in the mind of sophomore Izzy Radtke. It’s creativity like this that has allowed her to publish multiple books, short stories and poems, all before she was even able to drive a car.
Like many children, imagination has always been a prominent part of Radtke’s life, flourishing as early as when she first started school. But for Radtke, the art of creating stories has always had a strong hold on her personal time. This passion for writing has motivated Radtke to publish stories of her own, and she is currently working towards publishing a new book this year.
“I snuck pieces of paper underneath my desk and onto my lap during math class in first grade and got in trouble nearly every day for not paying attention,” Radtke said. “I made up stories for my dolls and drew up elaborate kingdoms for the kindergarten playground.”
The childhood interests she explored during primary school became the foundation for future opportunities for Radtke and her work. Radtke says that her publishing journey was made possible through a writing activity at a local library.
“A challenge at a small library I work for became my inspiration to begin,” Radtke said. “That’s what got me into this book deal for publishing, and gave me the motivation to begin the process.”
Radtke was put into contact with her publishing company, Four Eyed Media, through attending a book signing. Because her former assistant principal’s daughter had published books of her own, Radtke looked to her for guidance while beginning to work towards her goals of publishing a full-length novel.
“While talking to the assistant principal and his daughter, we hit it off right away,” Radtke said. “I got my copy of their book signed, and put in an application to work at that library while waiting for my copy back.”
A few months later, Radtke secured a job at Gals Guide Library located in the Nickel Plate Arts Center in order to continue building her interest in writing. By the time she’d accepted the job offer, Radtke says that she’d already written dozens of poems, novels, and short stories.
“After about a year of working at the library, I started hearing buzz about the publishing company, Four Eyed Media, who was going to sponsor Gals Guide Library as they worked to take in submissions of others and publish it,” Radtke said.
While an exciting opportunity had presented itself to Radtke, she says that the journey in achieving publishing status was a tedious one. Radtke says that balancing her literary goals with schoolwork, maintaining friendships, and extracurricular activities proved to be difficult.
“The publishing process was slow and tough to wait out,” Radtke said. “[It involved] writing pieces every week and having weekly meetings to weed out the good ideas and go over the old ones, fact checking and editing and spell check.”
In March of 2020, Radtke had her very first story published — “The Quietest Baby of All.” Since then, Nadja Radtke, Izzy’s mom, has noticed a boost in her daughter’s confidence.
“She has sprung up and become more happy and proud of her accomplishments,” Nadja said. “She writes a lot more now, because she knows it will go somewhere rather than just sitting in her notebooks forever.”
Sophomore Kaelyn Kemper, a friend of Radtke’s, has witnessed her growth as a writer since the two became close on a field trip in the sixth grade.
“She has definitely matured a lot through writing all of her books,” Kemper said. “Izzy will put her full effort into the things she enjoys.”
Radtke says her literary talent is only possible through the support of her friends and family, who regularly motivate her to continue pursuing her aspirations. Radtke hopes to continue her publishing career and collaborate with other writers from the literary world.
“I’ve always been into writing, as cliché as it sounds,” Radtke said. “There hasn’t ever been a moment where I wasn’t dedicating free time to writing.”
